


Shore Leave

by LunarC



Series: The Link Between Us [3]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: First Time, Fluff, Get together fic, Hands, M/M, McCoy's the devious one, Mind Link, Shore Leave, Spock finally wakes up, Vulcan Kisses, final chapter, for now, realisation fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-07
Updated: 2016-03-07
Packaged: 2018-05-25 07:46:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6186388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunarC/pseuds/LunarC
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While taking a much needed break after the events of Greta 6 and the Z14 Incident Spock comes to an understanding about a side to the mental link that has permanently formed between himself and Doctor McCoy...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shore Leave

**Author's Note:**

> The final chapter!
> 
> I know it's been a long time since I posted a work in this fandom, I have been very busy recently but have been receiving comments asking about this fic and decided closure was definitely needed even if it is quite short.  
> I actually wrote about 3 versions of this fic before settling on something more light hearted. I may choose to continue this series in the future and go into some different adventures so I left it purposefully open ended.
> 
> Thank you so much for all the kudos and the kind comments! I'm sorry it isn't as smutty as I would have liked to have written but I felt that that kind of fic might be better to save for a possible short sequel in the future.
> 
> Also this is my first completed series! Thanks again for all your feedback! I look forward to writing more in the future.

They took shore leave on the planet Cera, a class M planet well within Federation space. They arrived during the planet’s rainy season and the small Eco cabins that the Federation had set aside for accommodating them were battered with rain and winds. Bending the thick trees around them under the weight of the rain and swelling the lakes and rivers upon the mountainous rain forest landscape significantly.

Being forced to remain inside dampened a lot of spirits. But not Spock’s as it was a good opportunity to catch up on the scientific journals that he hadn’t had a chance to read through during the excitement of the last couple of weeks.

Doctor McCoy was equally content with the arrangement and the pair spent the first day seated side by side on a lounge or at a table, hands almost touching and reading quietly.

Jim did not fare so well.

“That’s it, I don’t care, I’m going for a hike!” Jim spouted suddenly, jumping to his feet. 

McCoy put down his padd, frowning.

“Jim it’s pouring outside.” McCoy snapped.

Jim shrugged on a rain coat, zipping it up to his chin and grinning.

“Doesn’t matter, I’ve been stuck in here for hours and-no offense to either of you-but a man can only remain indoors for so long!”

“Jim if you go out there you’ll catch a cold! Or worse! You’ll drown in some river!” McCoy said, frowning seriously.

Jim opened the door and rain swept into the room. McCoy stood, crossing quickly to the front door and closing it. 

“Jim, I’m serious-you can’t go out there alone.” McCoy snapped.

“Well then-looks like you’ll have to come with me.” Jim suggested. McCoy glared harder and Spock stood.

“There will be a short window of only moderate rainfall for the next two hours.” Spock said and McCoy’s head whipped around, aiming a deathly glare at him in turn. Jim brightened. 

“So you’re game then, Mr Spock?”

Spock was not ‘game’ he despised being wet. A Vulcan trait. However he was used to playing mediator between the Doctor and the Captain when the Captain proposed outrageous schemes. 

Spock picked up his rain jacket and McCoy grabbed his wrist.

‘What are you doing?’ He cried through their link.

‘If we do not accompany him he will go alone.’ Spock shot back between them. ‘He may become lost or injured. It is logical to accompany him. He is our friend.’ Spock broke the connection between them before Jim could notice their touch though McCoy still scowled without heart.

Their link had grown stronger and stronger between them. Their touches became less casual and more meaningful since Greta 6. The initial awkwardness at the intimacy disappearing with the understanding of its usefulness. They had entire conversations without speaking. The Vulcan found himself able to interpret the Doctor’s whims before he verbalised them while the Doctor guessed at what the Vulcan was about to suggest before he had parted his lips to speak.

Their disagreements grew less loaded and understanding dawned where doubt had shadowed before. They kept up their small jabs at one another, a facet of their friendship which would always remain but there was no venom.

Though Spock did not dwell on it he knew now that the link between them was too strong for him to break alone. That it could only be severed by extreme circumstance or the intervention of a Vulcan healer.

He also knew that a bond of this kind was not the same as the one he had with Jim nor any he had experienced in his life. The way their minds had weaved together. Calling out to one another even from different areas on the ship or on away missions…

It was… Interesting. 

“Fine,” McCoy threw up his hands and Jim grinned, slapping McCoy on the back, “Let’s go marching out in the rain like mad men! But first I’m getting my med-kit! Damn idiots.” McCoy muttered, brushing past Spock who stepped aside, able to smell the other as he walked past and almost feel the warmth of his skin.

... Perhaps fascinating was a better choice of word.

\--

Spock had not made allowances for the unpredictable nature of the weather of Cera and now he was paying for it.

He blamed his link with the Doctor for his temporary lack of foresight. His thoughts often drifted to McCoy without his willing it. He wondered if maybe some of the human’s emotion was bleeding into his. Making him stare while the other was talking or reading and making him brush his fingers to the other’s wrist simply to test if the bond was still present. Force the other to acknowledge him-even in public places. Which would have been obscene on Vulcan.

The human part of him, small but vocal, told him to stop making logical excuses out of an illogical situation.

Currently, the Doctor was wrapping his own raincoat around Spock’s shoulders.

“Goddamnit Spock, you’re soaked!”

“I am fine, Doctor, please don’t remove your coat-“

“Don’t you ‘I’m fine’ me, Spock! I know how much you hate water and I know how quickly you get sick when you’re cold! Now shut up while I wrangle Jim!”

Spock didn’t have much room to argue when the Doctor left him, dripping, under the canopy of a large tree beside the lake into which he had slipped. Vulcans did not slip and Spock almost felt confused by his current situation.

One second the Doctor had reached out, suddenly brushing their fingers together under the spray of one of Cera’s waterfalls the next Spock was up to his neck in rushing rain water.

He wrapped the rain coat around him a little more, shivering as a gust of wind rolled by him and thunder threatened overhead.

He hadn’t been prepared for the rush of sensation when the Doctor had missed his wrist and held his fingers (highly sensitive, extremely indecent) and had miscalculated his next step. Flinching from the touch and slipping from their path. 

Spock almost always initiated contact between them, how could the Doctor have known his touch would be so awkwardly received?

Spock leant back against the tree behind him, shivering as the water went straight through him. Vulcans were highly sensitive to cold and not too fond of water (since the two often went hand in hand). He was able to regulate his body temperature better than a human could but even then being wet was extremely uncomfortable.

He thought about the Doctor’s fingers brushing over his and shivered again. Though not from cold.

McCoy reappeared covered in mud and peeling out of the storm like a stray cloud. He settled upon Spock and pushed his own sopping hair out of his blue eyes. 

“Well Jim’s nowhere to be found! Probably half way up the trail by now! Damn him! I’ve sent him a message on the comm but I say we head back before this gets any worse! I’ve notified Sulu and Scotty and if Jim doesn’t come back in the next hour we’ll go out looking for him.” McCoy said.

Spock nodded. Logical enough.

McCoy lent forward, touching Spock’s forehead.

“You look flushed, are you alright?” McCoy asked.

Spock purposefully kept his mind shielded ignoring the way the Doctor’s fingers burnt him where he touched.

Ah.

Fascinating.

“Quite fine, Leonard.” Spock replied and McCoy smiled, knelt beside him.

“Alright. Well, let’s get out of here then.”

Spock nodded and shivered again when McCoy reached out a hand to pull him to his feet. The pieces of the puzzle of the link between them quickly beginning to fall into place.

He wondered if the Doctor knew what he did.

\--  
The Doctor would not cease in his doting. But it was preferable to concern about Jim so Spock allowed it. McCoy poked and prodded him, checking his vitals and being sure that he was warm and dry enough (he was wrapped in three layers, completely dry and full of tea-at the Doctor’s order).

Spock humoured him and finally the Doctor calmed after he received a message from Scotty telling him that the Captain had returned to his villa to ride out the worst of the storm assaulting them as it was closer to the end of the trail the Captain had taken. 

McCoy spoke to Jim for a while and assured him that he and Spock were fine despite all the Captain’s attempts to get to the bottom of it. McCoy didn’t tell Jim about Spock’s slip into the water. When confronted about it the Doctor just shrugged, smiling.

“Didn’t want to worry him. Besides. It’s kind of funny and I might just bring it up on a later date to make fun of you.”

Spock stared at him, deadpan. 

“I hardly think the story amusing-since it was your actions which caused my slip.”

“Hardly!” McCoy snapped back, “One second we were walking along the next you were all but diving into the pool! The things you do for attention, Mr Spock.” McCoy joked. But Spock insisted.

“You took my hand.” Spock said simply and the Doctor paused mid sip of his tea, grin slipping a little. 

“… So?” McCoy asked. It was never spoken out loud-but they touched often. Leaving the Doctor understandably confused. Spock clarified.

“In our usual encounters we touch-as so.” Spock took the Doctor’s wrist, pressing his fingers to where the veins ran up towards the human’s heart. Able to feel the thrum of McCoy’s emotion bubbling beneath. He left the link untouched for the moment though it was even more impossible to ignore now that they touched. “Today though…”

Spock ignited the link between them and dragged his fingers to the tips of McCoy’s. Allowing the human the full jolt of the sensory fireworks it triggered in him. 

McCoy fell back into the couch, immediately snatching his hand away like he’d been electrocuted. His cheeks flushed and his pupils dilated. Mouth falling open as he struggled to speak. 

It was slightly vindicating. Seeing the other’s response after the teasing he had endured.

“My God-what was that?” McCoy finally asked.

“A Vulcan kiss.” Spock clarified, watching the Doctor’s eyes widen.

There was silence between them.

McCoy went from red to scarlet. 

“It wasn’t my intention!” McCoy blurted, “I’m sorry-I didn’t mean to-“

“The action was not unpleasant.” Spock cut in, sipping his tea calmly before continuing, watching the other over the lip of his cup. “Just unexpected.”

They did not have to be linked for Spock to see the other’s utter confusion.

They sat in silence together for a while, while the Doctor took a few moments to organise his thoughts. Outside the rain poured and the wind rattled. But inside their small refuge their seemed to be utter quiet.

Spock did not doubt his decision to reveal his thoughts, not for a moment. The bond between them could easily become a romantic one if the Doctor wished it. Spock admired the other man greatly. He was emotional, stubborn, impulsive and passionate. He made choices based on what he felt was right not what he thought. He cared deeply and outwardly about almost anyone and saw the best in people. He was the epitome of mankind.

But he was also kind and intelligent, dexterous and resourceful. His emotional and intellectual sides in precarious balance with each other creating a mind with the power to rain down hell fire or soothe like a gentle shower.

Who was Spock to deny the chemistry between them? It should have been apparent sooner.

“… You… Didn’t mind?” McCoy asked shyly. This uncertainty a side which Spock rarely saw. McCoy’s cheeks were still flushed from earlier and his gaze dropped where Spock attempted to meet it.

“On the contrary, Leonard. I found it exhilarating, if poorly timed.” Spock pushed. Willing for the other to come to the same conclusion he had. Perhaps that he had had back in the brig of the Jaquel.

McCoy stared at Spock, eyes a little wide, like he was having trouble believing what he was hearing.

“… Spock-are you-coming onto me?”

Spock raised an eyebrow.

“I think we are well beyond that, Doctor.” He said, putting down his tea cup.

“… You’re damn right.” McCoy said and lent forward, pressing his lips to Spock’s in a human kiss. It didn’t alight Spock’s being at first as the Vulcan one had, but the link between them flourished, growing stronger in that moment than it had before and McCoy’s delight was so strong and overwhelming that Spock felt his skin burst into colour without his will. Flesh incensed where he was touched. Desire flowing through the contact like a dam breaking.

He knew then that the Doctor had indeed come to the conclusion he had today far sooner. That he had been skilfully hiding his emotion from the start.

Spock posed the question to the other through their link while McCoy took his hand and stroked along the back of his fingers and up his palm, making Spock huff, shivering. 

‘Well, okay I liked you for a little while, don’t get weird about it.’ McCoy thought rapidly. Images of Spock’s lip quirking in a smile and just showered and fiddling with his long fingers on scientific instruments and bent over in the bridge flashing between them. Years worth of memories to draw on. So much heart ache it twisted the stomach and made him sweat. 

The suppressed desire was incredible and almost painful to experience, even second hand.

‘How did you keep this from me?’ Spock wondered. 

‘You never asked.’ McCoy replied. ‘It doesn’t matter.’ He insisted, repeating that over and over again and smiling into their deepening, messy, kiss. Relief and excitement crushing the small sparks of doubt that worried that maybe he’d jumped the gun-that maybe Spock didn’t feel the same or as strongly.

Spock did the equivalent of rolling his eyes through the link before McCoy pressed his lips to Spock’s fingers and the Vulcan actually gasped, hips jumping.

‘That is extraordinary.’ McCoy thought. Thinking over every time he had come so close to taking Spock’s hands in front of the crew without realising what he may have triggered. 

‘I wouldn’t have shown it.’ Spock thought as he lay back against the head of the couch, Doctor climbing atop his hips and diving in to kiss him again. Lips pressing together tenderly, adjusting to accommodate each other as easily as thinking. 

‘That almost sounds like a challenge, Mr Spock.’ McCoy thought as he left Spock’s lips to suck on the end of the Vulcan’s fingers.

Spock’s thoughts went from coherent to purely sensual and he was unable to respond. The link between them became blurry, his pleasure blending with McCoy’s. The links that bound them changing without them realising. Binding them together deeper than before.

Spock had to retrieve his fingers from the Doctor’s mouth to stop himself from making a scene right there on the couch in their living room.

“Too much?” McCoy asked out loud, lips pink and hair mussed. Spock closed his eyes, flushed completely green and hips still jumping now and then from left over sensory memory. He hadn’t been touched like this his whole life-not even alone during his experiments in his youth. 

McCoy leant in and kissed the sides of his jaw, then his ears.

Spock arched involuntarily, breathing out deeply through his nose and McCoy’s approval purred through their link.

‘You look good like this.’ McCoy thought and Spock saw himself through the other’s eyes. Flushed and vocal and hair slightly askew. He looked depraved, sexed, completely different to the Vulcan he tried to be.

He wondered if it was this way for all Vulcans or if he had just stumbled upon the reason why his Father had fallen so readily for a human mate.

‘Don’t think about your parents right now!’ McCoy laughed and Spock, addled by feeling, apologised. 

‘It’s alright.’ McCoy thought and continued mouthing Spock’s ears, rubbing his fingers along the back of Spock’s fingers and working him up masterfully, using every nuance and jump that he felt through the link to pull the Vulcan apart. 

Spock tried his best to contribute but struggled to both control the wills of his body and the avalanche of emotion threatening to crash between them.

How long had he walked in the dark hand in hand with this man and never seen what was right in front of him?

Spock was contemplating this in passing when McCoy ground down onto his hips and bit the ends of his fingers.

Spock swore in his mother tongue, forcing their hips together again. He threw his head back and the Doctor huffed out a chuckle before his expression grew equally affected. 

‘I should’ve known you’d be a spitfire in bed-‘ McCoy thought as they ground together. The human couldn’t speak, as he was mouthing Spock’s fingers, grinding on top of him and grazing his teeth over the knuckles of Spock’s fingers. The thought made something possessive in Spock growl hungrily. ‘The quiet ones are always like that.’

Spock then opened the shields between his sensory feeling and McCoy’s completely and the Doctor’s commentary ended abruptly.

\--

Their first union was a long one. The Doctor was indeed dexterous and intelligent and had an array of skills which the Vulcan had not been aware of as well as a fascination with the parts which they had in common and which were completely different. Which he explored with academic concentration.

Spock kept up to a reasonable standard though there was no questioning that the Doctor was more naturally inclined to debauchery (at which thought the Doctor swatted at Spock) where Spock was an enthusiastic and competent student.

Both of their moods greatly improved after their joining and they sat side by side on the couch, showered and relaxed when Jim finally reappeared later that evening. He was soaked to the bone by the storm outside and not at all in the high spirits he had been in the early afternoon. 

“I’m drenched!” He barked, “I kept waiting for the storm to pass but it just never let up! And you know there’s not enough room in these damn cabins for an extra man so I had to come home-in the dark! I slipped head over heels and right into a puddle like a swimming pool next to the porch! Can you believe it?” Jim grumbled. McCoy smirked at him.

“I told you.” The Doctor said. He brushed his fingers against Spock’s wrist when the Captain was out of sight, an exchange of mirth passing between them. Spock raised an eyebrow but otherwise didn’t respond.

“And where did you two go anyway? One second you were behind me-next-gone! I looked for you but I couldn’t find my way back onto the trail and the damn communicator broke!”

“We took a slight detour from the path, Captain and were unable to make contact with you again. We deemed it safer to return than to continue.” Spock said.

“Yeah well, I think you had the right idea! I should’ve just stayed home!” Jim called from the shower. 

McCoy glanced at Spock whose lip quirked. Imagining the Captain’s expression if he had been present during the events of the afternoon.

‘We’ll have to tell him soon.’ McCoy thought through their link.

‘The Captain is quite observant.’ Spock responded. ‘It would be interesting to see how long it takes before he realises alone…’ 

‘… You’re a bad influence on me, Spock.’

Jim reappeared a few minutes later, showered and exhausted, Spock and McCoy continued reading on the couch and he looked between them. Hands on his hips.

“… How come you two look so relaxed?” He asked.

McCoy glanced up at the Captain, shrugging. 

“Rest is good for the soul, Jim. You should try it sometime.” McCoy answered.

Jim raised an eyebrow at him before turning to Spock who just continued reading his pad obliviously, playing the innocent bystander perfectly. 

The Captain stared at them for a little while longer before shrugging and moving off into the kitchen.

“Hope this damn rain lets up soon, I’ve had just about enough of these storms.”

Spock glanced over at McCoy, who was reading his medical journal with a small smirk on his face and red marks from Spock’s teeth just visible on his skin below his collar and wondered how anyone could tire of something so remarkable…

END


End file.
